Shame (2011)

Shame Synopsis

Brandon (Michael Fassbender) is a New Yorker who shuns intimacy with women but feeds his desires with a compulsive addiction to sex. When his wayward younger sister (Carey Mulligan) moves into his apartment stirring memories of their shared painful past, Brandon’s insular life spirals out of control.

The world's greatest filmmakers tell their stories from the very first frame in their movies to the very last. Need proof? Just watch the amazing supercut below, and you'll notice just how many brilliant films have beginnings and endings that work in stunning tandem.

Did you see the poster for Eli Roth’s new movie got banned in Italy. It’s unclear exactly why the Italians considered it so far over the line, but then again, movie posters are banned for a wide variety of reasons that aren’t exactly clear.

While the filmmakers largely embraced the NC-17 rating, it still means there are many theaters that wouldn't show it. If you missed Shame and have been curious about what all the hubbub is about, it's hitting shelves as a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack on April 17th.

When the Academy Award nominees were announced, Shame was totally absent from the role call. Outraged critics and movie fans alike contributed Shame's snub to the Academy's prudish prejudices, and it seemed that might be the indie's last major hurrah. But just when we thought there was nothing else Shame could yield to shock the world, Fox Searchlight unleashes a shocking new poster which has been deemed too hot for Hungary, which has refused to run the one-sheet promo seen below.

As both a film critic and reporter, I have to sit through a lot of terrible movies. This year I spent hours of my life watching movies like New Year’s Eve, Spy Kids: All The Time in the World, Abduction and Waiting For Forever. But it’s the good movies that make it all worth it, and this year there were some truly brilliant films in release. But among those great titles, what were my favorites? Well…

A decade spent working as a professional film critic has brought me here, to my tenth annual obligatory best of the year list. What you're getting here is a list of the 2011 movies which I think were the best. This list has the soul of a hero.

Much like 2010, this year was packed with not only amazing soundtracks, but also movies that knew how to use songs to perfect effect. From the synth sounds in Drive to the insanely happy tunes in The Muppets, this year in music moments made audiences feel unending joy and devastating sadness, but it all made for great times at the cinema.

This weekend was quiet at the box office; the deep breath before the plunge. The string of holiday movies start to roll out next weekend, beginning with the latest over-cast super-ensemble romantic comedy New Year's Eve. But this week, with no new major releases, movie audiences took the weekend off.

This week on Operation Kino we're struck silent in awe of the almighty Fassbender penis. That's right, it's time to review Shame, the latest collaboration between Michael Fassbender and director Steve McQueen. From there we go into a discussion of the movie's NC-17 rating, and whether it's possible or even necessary to erase the stigma around NC-17

In Shame McQueen once again directs Michael Fassbender in a no-holds-barred performance, this time playing a sex addict who lives an ostensibly successful life in New York City but is completely ravaged by his addiction. Shot entirely on location in New York, using a lot of modern architecture and posh locations, Shame looks like no New York movie you've ever seen

The film's sexuality is more overt here, but it's almost an afterthought, a barrage of images sifted from the mind of a man who simply cannot shut off his libido or predatory instincts. These play out interspersed across a single scene, dialogue-free, of the silent connection and flirtation between Fassbender's Brandon and a woman on a train. Nothing is explained; the trailer simply lets the images speak for themselves.

In Steve McQueen's Shame there's a scene in which Brandon, played by Michael Fassbender, and his boss, played by James Badge Dale, go out to a restaurant to see Brandon's sister perform at a club. This results in an extended sequence in which we watch Carey Mulligan sing a beautiful rendition of Liza Minnelli's "New York New York." While watching the movie at AFI Fest last week, I couldn't help but think about how it perfectly encapsulated the tone of the film.

I can’t help but fear that because of the film’s overt treatment of sexuality it will be ignored come awards season, simply because it deserves recognition. Michael Fassbender puts on one of the greatest, if not the greatest, performances you will see all year and McQueen’s director is magnificent. Bluntly, Shame is as courageous as filmmaking gets.

You'll only find hints of the so-called "objectionable" material in the newly released and clip from Shame, which stars Michael Fassbender as a sex addict whose life is turned upside down when his sister moves in with him. What you will find, however, is a seriously stylish trailer and a bunch of pre-date repartee between Fassbender's Brandon and a lovely lady who has no patience for time travel.

Earlier today, while writing about Brad Pitt's casting in the new Steve McQueen film 12 Years A Slave, Sean pointed out that there was a possibility that Fox Searchlight might run into a problem with McQueen's most recent film, Shame. Due to its content - the film is about a sex addict living in Manhattan - many have speculated that the movie might get hit with the MPAA's harshest rating: NC17.

Michael "Magneto" Fassbender plays a single, thirty-something New Yorker who has become addicted to sex for its own sake, free of intimacy or commitment (suspension of disbelief...fraying!). His carefree ways are thrown for a loop when his sister Cissy (Carey Mulligan) arrives and announces that she's moving in with him. Also, apparently he has a whole lot of porn on his computer.

The internet loves minimalist posters. Putting that phrase into a Google image search will bring back hundreds of thousands of results, with artists crafting recognizable one-sheets using only small-but-recognizable details. There aren't any floating heads, big explosions or crappy Photoshop. Now the folks behind Steve McQueen's Shame have put that concept to use in a poster...

Let's talk about Michael Fassbender. Nobody in Toronto right now, myself included, seems unable to stop marveling at the actor, and once the general public has gotten a look at the two films he brought to this festival, A Dangerous Method and Shame, I imagine the general public will get on board as well.

The most interesting thing about this announcement is the fact that it comes just a day before the fest is due to begin. Talk about coming in just under the wire. I’m thrilled to see new films from Martin Scorsese, David Cronenberg, Werner Herzog, and Wim Wenders on the roster. As a psychology nerd, Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, an examination of the relationship between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, is particularly high on my list of must-sees.

See Rachel Weisz and Ralph Fiennes in Fernando Meirelles' 360, Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen in Polley's Take This Waltz, Jason Segel and Ed Helms in the Jay and Mark Duplass's Jeff Who Lives At Home, and many more

It’ll follow around a sex addict who’s life is shaken after his little sister moves in. Academy Award nominated actress Carey Mulligan will play the sister while Michael Fastbender, already familiar with McQueen